After steadfastly refusing to get a colonoscopy for years, Alan Hunt was finally berated into getting the recommended cancer screening four years ago.

"Basically, my wife and [my doctor] browbeat me into having a colonoscopy at age 56," he said.

Turns out, Hunt had four polyps on his colon, one of which already had turned cancerous. The cancer also had spread to one of his lymph nodes.

After surgery and chemotherapy, Hunt is now cancer-free and has become an evangelical for the screening he said saved his life.

"God must have been looking out for me. Ever since then I have just decided if there's anyone I can convince they need to have their colonoscopy at 50, I'll do it," said Hunt, who is now 60.

Hunt is a volunteer for the first local "Get Your Rear in Gear" 5k run scheduled for March. The event aims to spread awareness about colorectal cancer and raise money for screenings.

In Tennessee in 2008, colorectal cancer was the third-most deadly cancer, killing 1,237 people, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.

But with regular screenings, colon cancer is almost 100 percent preventable, said Dr. Shauna Lorenzo-Rivero, Chattanooga colorectal surgeon with University Surgical Associates and one of the founders of the local race.

If caught before it turns cancerous, a polyp can be removed during a colonoscopy and does not require another procedure, she said.

"I'd much rather remove a polyp (during a colonoscopy) than to find them in the emergency room with a tumor that requires surgery and sometimes chemotherapy," she said.